Hispanic parents turned to city, St. Vrain leaders for help

By Victoria A.F. CamronLongmont Times-Call

Posted:
05/16/2013 06:18:13 PM MDT

Updated:
05/16/2013 06:21:15 PM MDT

LONGMONT -- A group of Hispanic parents concerned that their children are facing discrimination at Twin Peaks Charter School met with school officials and St. Vrain Valley School District leaders on Thursday, according to a city employee involved in the matter.

Carmen Ramirez, a program coordinator with Longmont's city and neighborhood resources department, has been working with about eight families since March on this issue, she said.

She seemed to be cautiously optimistic on Thursday after some of the parents talked to Twin Peaks principal B.J. Buchmann, St. Vrain superintendent Don Haddad and other officials.

"The administration and the board members listened to the parents," Ramirez said.

"I wouldn't say it's resolved, but everybody identified issues they can work on," she said.

While another meeting is scheduled for Thursday, it won't be clear until fall if the problems have been corrected.

"It's best if I don't say anything at this time," Buchmann said Thursday.

Haddad said the school district, as the charter school's authorizer, is bound by the privacy law.

At the May 8 meeting of the St. Vrain Valley school board, Ramirez read a letter from about a dozen parents asking the district for help because they felt their "children's rights are being violated."

"We do not feel the Twin Peaks administration is willing to discuss or resolve these issues," the letter read. "They are being treated in a demeaning and discriminatory manner."

Several parents and children spoke to the board, detailing the problems they've encountered.

Freddy Rodriguez, who started attending Twin Peaks in 2007, left the school in January even though he was a honor student and had great friends there, he said.

"I never imagined I'd have to leave Twin Peaks," Freddy told the school board.

In the fall, he was held back from the advanced Spanish class because the teacher wanted him to be a leader in the regular class, he said. But he wasn't learning anything and got bored, the seventh-grader said.

"I became more and more frustrated that I was not being challenged academically and getting opportunities," Freddy said.

When his mother, Norma Alba, discussed the matter with a school official, she was told the advanced Spanish class wouldn't fit in his schedule. They later found out it was the same time as the regular Spanish class he was in, Freddy said.

Four teachers began treating him differently and falsely accusing him of bad behavior, he said.

Their attitudes and treatment of him continued "to the point that I felt that I wasn't welcome," Freddy said.

Gabriela Miranda said, with Ramirez translating, that a teacher had hit her sixth-grade son's hand with a ruler.

"The teacher told him that if he told anybody, then he would fail the class," Miranda said through Ramirez.

Her son, Robert Gutierrez, said that teachers follow him everywhere in the school, even when he uses the restroom.

"Since this incident happened, I feel like I'm in jail," Robert told the school board.